I then tweeted the column out to Blenders. The employees gave an instantaneous and enthusiastic response on Twitter, within the feedback for the column, in my e mail, and on my voicemail.

That’s some buyer engagement.

The takeaway is that Blenders seeks nude selfies. The employees claims it'll place them on the workplace fridge. So please purchase Blenders sun shades, take nude selfies, and ship them to Blenders.

Now on to this month’s column.

There isn't a scarcity of recommendation on how entrepreneurs may be extra productive and simpler. Through the years, I've develop into higher at each. However I typically consider that I’m being productive when, in truth, I’m losing time. Listed here are three ways in which entrepreneurs typically idiot themselves about productiveness.

three productiveness traps

Specializing in the pressing whereas ignoring the essential. I typically concentrate on the fallacious quadrants of the Eisenhower Matrix (additionally referred to as the Covey grid), which helps prioritize gadgets based mostly on their significance and urgency. Quadrant 1 is each essential and pressing. Quadrant 2 is necessary however not pressing. Quadrant three is pressing however not necessary. And quadrant four is neither essential nor pressing.

Typically I could be fooled into specializing in quadrant three — gadgets which are pressing however not necessary. These can embrace, for instance, answering emails and having low-worth conversations.

The actual lure for me, nevertheless, is quadrant 1 — gadgets which are each necessary and pressing. The damaging a part of quadrant 1 is that I really feel wildly productive once I full these gadgets.

However necessary and pressing gadgets (quadrant 1) steal your time from these which might be necessary however not pressing (quadrant 2). And it’s the necessary however not pressing gadgets (quadrant 2) that I actually have to do. Typically I’ve recognized for years that I wanted to do them, however I nonetheless put them off.

For instance, engaged on the connection together with your partner or associate is nearly all the time an essential factor to do. Nevertheless it’s fairly often not pressing — till it’s too late. That’s not a enterprise instance, however it's emotional and private for a lot of, together with me.

A enterprise instance of quadrant 2 two is planning. Many entrepreneurs don’t need to plan as a result of they aren’t “doing one thing.” However as considered one of my pals informed me just lately, each 1 minute of planning saves 10 minutes in execution.

Unnecessary networking. One other entrepreneurial time waster is networking. I’m a fan of rising a big community. However the worst approach of networking is assembly in individual, reminiscent of having a espresso.

Tim Ferriss’s concept of simply-in-time networking works for me. Ferriss asserts that you simply don’t construct random connections which may ultimately be mutually helpful. As an alternative, look for those who you want instantly and community with them.

A serious critique of this strategy is that networks are sometimes useful whenever you construct connections over time. However randomly going to community occasions or assembly somebody for espresso is just not a good way to construct a deep connection. You must spend extra time with somebody to construct deep ties.

An excessive amount of planning. One other method that entrepreneurs waste time is researching an excessive amount of and appearing too little. Examples might be watching the most recent marketing movies on YouTube, studying blogs about marketing, and comparable efforts.

We're all creators and shoppers. As entrepreneurs, we attempt to eat excessive-high quality content material — whether or not it’s from textual content or video or at conferences. Nevertheless it’s straightforward to fall into the lure of making an attempt to study an excessive amount of earlier than taking motion.

Entrepreneurs must be creating. That’s stepping into the world and making issues occur that may drive you and your organization ahead.

So what do you assume? How do you procrastinate with out realizing you're procrastinating? Have you ever ever despatched a nude selfie to an appreciative model? Let me know within the feedback under.